Mighty machines had less power than a smartphone
IN a recent edition of the Bugle (May 19) my attention was caught by the photo of the massive data processing equipment in use at Himley Hall.
In the mid-1950s my dad (Howard Jones) was employed as a maintenance joiner at the Mid-cannock Colliery. His ‘gaffer’ would sometimes send him over to Himley Hall to help with office conversions for the NCB.
Offices
At that time, the Coal Board had admin and accounts offices at Allport Street in Cannock. I was encouraged to apply for a job there, but advice not followed up. By the time Himley Hall was taken over by Local Authorities, the NCB had commenced work on a new Computer Centre in Cannock. It was located between the Mid-cannock Colliery, and the Walsall Road (A34) adjacent to the old Education Offices.
The land was originally the home of Cannock FC. It was later used for housing Bevin Boys, who were conscripted to work in the local coal mines.
Before demolition, the houses had been occupied by refugees from Hungary and East Europe.
The Bureau was run by BARIC, which was a joint venture with Barclays Bank and International Computers Ltd.
With technology moving on from punch-card to tapes, the Bureau supported much of NCB in the Midlands. It was also able to compete for other data processing work outside of the coal industry.
Mid-cannock Colliery closed in 1965, but the industry continued until the closure of Littleton Colliery in 1993. Behind the Mid-cannock site, was a massive open-cast operation worked by an impressive drag-line excavator.
When the coal-seams ran out, the site was to be destined to become the ‘Merrie-england’ Theme Park. The idea was a non-starter, and the site is now the SCC Poplars land-fill site.
It is interesting to compare the massive Powers-samas machines from the 50s with the smartphones in use today for accounts completion.